Chapter 142: Devil's Plague 3
There had been seven gods on the Eeth Continent since ancient times.
They were celestial beings who managed the continent under the Creator’s will.
However, they gradually took over the Creator’s position and role, and at some point the Creator disappeared from everyone's minds.
The Creator did not intervene even though the Light Doctrine falsified their scriptures and documents and distorted the truth.
Unlike the seven gods, the Creator had never appeared on the Eeth Continent, and had never given direct help to those who believed in him.
His ultimate intention was unknown.
However, Eteria Rodinus was speculating that it had to do with the nature of the system.
“The Creator is trying to precisely control the power of Demon God Asura. That is the driving force that changes the system.”
As Helena walked along the shoreline where rock crabs were crawling, she spoke in a firm tone.
Karin looked at her with a confused expression.
“Aren't there only seven gods in this world?”
“Gods also exist in different dimensions. It can be said that the Demon God is one of them.”
Gods were the agents of the Creator.
In some ways, they were similar to angels, but they had been given a more active task.
However, the position and role of the Demon God were rather unusual and out of the ordinary, so his identity was unclear compared to other gods.
“That is true. It’s quite weird. The demons are in confrontation with the gods, but their ruler is the Demon God.”
“That's proof that the Demon God wasn’t part of the Creator’s original intentional creation. We don't really know the details though.”
Helena paused for a moment so as not to mention any unnecessary content in the prophetic book.
Woohyuk suddenly stopped walking when she tried to put bring up a new subject.
“Why did you suddenly stop, Lord Woohyuk?”
“There’s a shipwreck over there.”
Woohyuk pointed to the other side of the beach.
As he said, there was a ship with a broken hull by the shore.
The party went towards it to see if there were any survivors.
“Ugh… .”
They heard a man's groan on the deck.
Woohyuk climbed to the deck using the net outside the hull and confirmed the man’s identity.
A surprised look took over his face.
'Allen?'
Archmage Allen, his closest friend in the past.
His innate magical talent was recognized by Great Sage Arcane and became his successor.
He made a name for himself by attacking the Tower of Pride built by the Witch Trivia.
According to the past, he should’ve been in the Croa Principality on the east of the Holy Aperian Empire.
'Why is he here? Did the future change because of me?'
He was talking about the butterfly effect, a phenomenon where minor changes caused chain reactions and would end up causing a huge change.
Woohyuk became nervous and impatient because he wanted to become an archmage as before.
“Can you heal this man, Helena?”
“Let’s see… His mind and body are weak, but I don't think his life will be in danger if we take care of him from now on.”.
Afterwards, she cast a magic spell and Allen squirmed awake, vomiting seawater.
“Ugh…”
“Can you hear us?”
“Who, who are you?”
Allen's blue eyes filled with fear looked up at Woohyuk.
Woohyuk took out a blanket and covered Allen with it.
“I am an otherworlder adventurer like you. What happened to you at sea?”
“…We met pirates. They were really dangerous people.”
Shivering with hypothermia, Allen recounted his experiences.
Woohyuk frowned deeply as he listened to the end.
“Your clan members were captured by Edward Teach?”
“Yes, Blackbeard said he needed more slaves. It seems that they are increasing their power on an island in the black sea.”
The black sea was the area to the east of the Eeth Continent.
This name was attributed to it due to the appearances of many deep-sea monsters in the harsh storms, which colored the water black.
Woohyuk did not expect Edward Teach to use such a dangerous zone as a base.
In this situation, it was possible that someone from the demon world was helping him.
“There is a good chance that he subordinated himself to Aleister after being abandoned by the demon kings of Ars Notoria.”
“Aleister… They did mention that name as they took out some unknown purple pill.”
The purple pill Allen was talking about was the Clipport's Fruit.
Woohyuk showed great interest to the story once the pill was mentioned.
“Did the subordinates also take the fruit?”
"Yeah. But, it seems like they have a shortage of it, since they mentioned that only the executives and higher-ups of the pirate group could receive it.”
“I guess the distribution isn’t functioning properly over there. But why did your clan leave the Croa Principality to come here? That country should be a pretty safe place.”
Geographically, the Croa Principality was located in the northeast of the western continent.
The only countries it shared a border with were the Holy Aperian Empire and the Enoa Kingdom, without including the channel to the east.
However, since Alice of the Enoa Kingdom did not manage to get the Blood Queen class, she wouldn’t have been a proper opponent to the Elf Queen Orphelia in the Croa Principality.
Allen's next remarks took Woohyuk completely by surprise.
“I don't know what you mean. It's a complete battlefield. The two queens of different races are at an all-out war against each other since they don’t get along.”
“Two queens?”
“Yes, Alice the Queen of Thorns and Orphelia the Elf Queen. Their personalities and attributes are the complete opposite.”
The Queen of Thorns.
Woohyuk raised his head and looked up at the sky.
Was there a hidden class he wasn’t aware of in the Primordial forest or adventurer's canyon?
Or was there the intervention from another transcendental being?
He didn’t know what had happened, but it was clear that things weren't looking very good for the Croa Principality.
“What are the characteristics of the race that is ruled by the Queen of Thorns?”
“They are some kind of variant. They are called Kazaks. They look like a mix of both monsters and demons, and have red eyes with thin wings.”
According to the description, they were chimeras similar to the shape of a fallen angel.
Woohyuk clicked his tongue when he heard that the country’s army had allied with Elf Queen Orphelia but still struggled a lot against their enemies.
“It would’ve been better if she were the Vampire Queen.”
"Huh? Are there vampires on the Eeth Continent?”
“No, I'll talk about that later. Can you move?”
Time was tight. They had to make a cure for the Ghost disease before sunset and return to the village.
Allen silently nodded and stood up as he grabbed onto Woohyuk’s extended hand.
“But what were you doing here? You don’t seem to have come here for an outing...”
“We were looking for medicinal herbs to cure an infectious disease.”
Woohyuk briefly explained the situation in the Lydia Kingdom.
Allen looked convincingly at Helena and Karin.
“Everyone, you are my lifesavers. I would like to help in any way I can to repay you. I an quite a skilled mage, you know?”
“Then let's take a quick look inside the ship before we leave.”
Although they had already been robbed by pirates once, some items might’ve been left behind.
As Woohyuk expanded his senses, a ferocious cry resounded in the air.
It was a group of Fire-winged birds he had met in the past.
“Perfect. They’ll make a delicious meal.”
Woohyuk immediately summoned Triton, and pointed at the sky with his finger.
“Catch those, Mr. first class sailor.”
“…”
Triton raised the magic sword Ranghilt as if he didn't care anymore and wasn’t surprised.
Then, ice arrows formed around the blade and flew towards the flying birds.
Stab!
Stab!
Stab!
Stab!
With cold penetrating sounds, the fire-wing birds began to fall onto the deck one by one.
“Oh, it’s the first time I’ve seen this vassal. Why hasn’t he appeared so far?”
“I forgot about him because I was busy.”
“…”
Ever since his first appearance, Triton’s value gradually decreased in Woohyuk’s mind.
As Triton gathered the birds on one side, Woohyuk went down the deck and headed for the cabin.
“Did all the clan members who escaped with you die?”
"I do not know. The ship suddenly crashed into something and I lost consciousness... Some of the passengers were elves.”
"Elves?"
Elves, called the forest people, were weak on the sea.
Most of them probably didn't survive.
But death was probably better than being dragged away by the Blackbeard.
Because of their beautiful appearances, elves were often sold as sex slaves.
“Yes, I am actually a human mage serving Elf Queen Orphelia. I have come all this way due to an order of hers.”
After rummaging the messy floor, Allen gave an additional explanation.
The Croa Principality was currently in a crisis due to the pincer attack between Alice the Queen of Thorns and the demons.
Although five paladins of the Empire were dispatched there, they were unable to resolve the chaos.
In the meantime, Elf Queen Orphelia had a dream.
A mysterious plant growing on a cliff on the west coast of the Lydia Kingdom had bound up Alice the Queen of Thorns and dried her to death.
Elf Queen Orphelia judged this dream to be a revelation about their guardian deity, the one who would save them.
A small expedition was secretly dispatched with Allen as the commander.
The voyage was smooth until they met Blackbeard’s crew by the coast of the Norton Kingdom.
'Things have gotten complicated.'
Woohyuk scratched his head when he heard Allen’s words.
Incidents that hadn’t occurred in his past life were happening around the world
This wasn’t desirable for Woohyuk since he relied on his memories of the past when making plans for the future.
Many things had already changed, so he couldn't easily get a sense of where to correct things.
When Woohyuk pondered whether to revise the existing plan, he heard a creak in one cabin.
"Hm? A survivor?”
Helena approached the cabin and tried to grab the door handle.
Woohyuk suddenly pushed her aside and brandished Grandia.
Bang!
Swoosh!
Before long, the cabin door swung open violently, and a bunch of blue arrows flew out toward Woohyuk.
However, the attacks were neutralized by the Ghost Queen Star Serpent.
Afterwards, Woohyuk narrowed the gap and hit the opponent’s abdomen with Grandia's pommel.
A delicate scream resounded in the cabin.
“Kyaa!”
An elf woman.
She had the typical appearance of an elf, but had a tear spot around her eyes.
Woohyuk spoke after taking away the longbow in her hands.
“Are you attacking because of the demonic energy inside me?”
“Yes, demons are disgusting and vile creatures.”
The blue eyes of the elf woman flashed through her blond bangs.
Her hatred was burning like a flame.
Apparently she had been in bad situations with demons.
“So you’re alive, Reina.”
“… Allen? Did you also join the demons’ faction?”
As Allen entered the cabin, Reina’s eyes opened wide.
Allen shook his head and pointed to Helena next to him.
“They are my lifesavers. And since this beautiful woman is a saint, they cannot be on the demons’ side.”
“No way… But this man is definitely a demon...”
Reina looked at Woohyuk's group with a hesitant expression.
Then Karin approached her and smiled widely.
“Don’t worry, Miss. Mr. Woohyuk is not a bad person.”
“Then why do you have demonic energy? Were you forced to sign a contract with a demon?”
“Mr. Woohyuk is the descendant of the former Demon God.”
Karin had heard about Woohyuk during their conversations.
But her words made Reina more confused.
"What… did you say…?”
Not only did she come across pirates, but this time, she was facing the Demon God.
Her eyes shook in a mixture of surprise, shock and fear.